After a lengthy explanation on Twitter, Floyd announced his secession from the fight, claiming he was misinformed about the circumstances. Mayweather and his team were reportedly under the impression that the fight was to be a small exhibition match and never agreed to an official bout.

“Ultimately, I was asked to participate in a 9-minute exhibition of 3 rounds with an opponent selected by the Rizen Fighting Federation,” Mayweather wrote. “What I was originally informed of (it) by Brent Johnson of One Entertainment was that this was to be an exhibition put on for a small group of wealthy spectators for a very large fee. This exhibition was previously arranged as a ‘Special Bout’ purely for entertainment purposes with no intentions of being represented as an official fight card nor televised worldwide.”

Mayweather and his former opponent, the 20-year-old Nasukawa, appeared Monday at a news conference and announced the fight along with organizers of the event, which was set for Dec. 31 at the 37,000-seat Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, just outside of Tokyo.

The fight would have been Mayweather’s first since his August 2017 match against Conor McGregor.He has been adamant about his status as a retired boxer, although Mayweather said he planned to come out of retirement and announced in September that he would face Manny Pacquiao in a rematch. The fight likely would not be until at least the spring, as Pacquiao plans to defend his title against Adrian Broner, although Mayweather announced that it would take place in December.

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